Articles That Make Me Shiver

I started writing this post last night. Originally, I was going to begin it with the following: “As I am looking through various commentaries, I am wondering: how many of his fans does Lahm still have? Who is still with him?” However, as the day progressed, my mood changed. I do not feel the negativity I felt last night. Nevertheless, the title remains the same.

I have come across an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung, a newspaper that, overall, I do not mind reading, even though my friend says they do not like anyone. The article is entitled On the Hunt for More Power.

The author asserts,

He is so small, he is so cute, he looks so harmless. Can this Philipp Lahm harm anyone? Of course not, say the fans, especially women in whom he triggers the protective instinct. But nice men don’t make a career, especially when they are 1m70 tall. Only by being nice, nobody becomes captain of FC Bayern Munich and the National Team, the two most important German football teams.

Protective instinct? It makes the whole sentence rather derogatory.

The football player Lahm is praised for his technique and his intelligence, but his perseverance, with which he pursues his goal, is often underestimated. When he gives interviews, his voice, despite squeaking, always sounds like he has something to say. However, Lahm says, above all, the right things at the right time.

I absolutely LOVE this passage. Love it. Apart from the comment about his voice, this passage is cool. The fact that people do underestimate his character is what I have mentioned before. They really do, thus the whole hype and shock. (Even the last sentence does not bug me because I do not consider that a bad thing.)

(my translation, (c) unavis)

Then the author talks about the book and how everything did not go as planned. He also states that Lahm, who has been an advocate of the flat hierarchy, now pushes his own person too much in the spotlight, being led by his advisers. He finishes his article with the following:

The small, nice Mister Lahm will soon be 28 years old. He has rejected the offers from FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, has chained himself for years to his beloved home in Munich, as well as to the position of a left full-back. He does not have what it takes to be a big adventurer. Philipp Lahm devotes himself completely to the hunt of bigger titles. And, obviously, what drives him, the small man as he is, is, above all, power.

Power? Seriously? So, if it were somebody taller, that would be alright?

(my translation, (c) unavis)

Another article entitled A High Price talks about how Lahm was trying to become edgier by releasing a book. “It was planned that way, ” says the author, but, according to him, it did not work out that way. Now, I am going to stop for a second to comment on “becoming edgy”: why do people keep saying that he tries to become edgier? Oh, I know why. It is because they had a wrong impression, produced out of nowhere, thinking that Lahm had always been oh-so-not-edgy. Error! He has been. He does not need to prove that he has an edge because he already has one.

The words that made me shiver, though, were in the closing paragraph:

Lahm will be looked at with different eyes

With the book, the management wants to continue sharpening the brand “Lahm”. It has succeeded to some extent, one thing is certain: in the German football, no one will argue in the future that Lahm was too soft, too naive, and above all, [had] too little toughness for a leading position in the German football.

However, Philipp Lahm pays a high price. From now on, he will be looked at with different eyes not only in the football family, also outside of it, at regulars’ tables. Here and there he was appreciated, above all, for his credibility and integrity. But that is in the past. It will take a lot of good games to regain the old reputation.

(my translation, (c) unavis)

He is not soft. Being diplomatic and being soft are two different things.

That last paragraph just beat the living daylights out of me last night. Even though I do not see how the book could damage his credibility, I admit I was simply in trance because of that passage.

But I am going to say this: the more they, whoever they may be, b***h about him, the fiercer I become in my support for him.